Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Power of the Dark Crystal Plot Summary

Here is a brief plot summary for Power of the Dark Crystal pieced together from the information provided in press releases, interviews and other official sources.

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers about the plot of the film. If you don't want to be spoiled, please do not read on.

Power of the Dark Crystal is set many years after the events of the first movie. Jen and Kira, the gelflings, are older and are reigning as king and queen in the Castle of the Crystal. After the Gelflings welcome a fiery. and unexpected visitor. to their castle they learn that the very existence of the U-mun people, who live in the searing heat in the center of the planet, is threatened by the death of their sun. There is apparently only one thing powerful enough to heal the dying sun - a shard of the Crystal.

The Gelflings refuse the request for a crystal shard, as breaking the crystal would disturb the peaceful surface world's balance. But the desperate visitor takes matters into her own hands and steals a shard, making a hasty escape through tunnels deep in the bowels of the castle. The surface world once again falls into darkness - as the UrSkek split into Mystics and Skeksis. So begins the adventure of Thurma, a girl "made of fire", who bands together with Kensho, an outcast Gelfling, in an adventure in the "inner-world" over the fate of the planet.

8 comments:

While this movie has been long in coming about, it may yet be a bit premature in the production. Some may argue that a different story in a different universe, told by the same creators of "The Dark Crystal" would make for a more enjoyable and beneficial outcome to producers and viewers alike. Time will tell, but if this sequel does do credit to the original then it may yet be worthy of the Henson name. I wish it (and all associated) luck and look forward to its showing.

Beware spoilers of the first film are coming up. The same story was already told in the first movie.

Further, if I recall correctly the crystal alone did not split the Urskek. It was a great conjuction with light from the crystal striking the Urskek that caused them to split. Further the Urskek left the Gelfling's world at the end of the first movie so there is no way that they can be separated again. To do this again is simply redundacy that is indicative of bad writing and ruins the wonder of the first film.

You have been better off having Gelfings fight a war over the power of the crystal, with the crystal being split into two large pieces and each piece being used as a weapon by each faction.

1) The UrSkeks shattered the crystal in their attempt to gain more power from it ("in our arrogance"), and in shattering it, were split into their dark and light facets, the Skeksis and the UrRu (Mystics), respectively.

2) The Great Conjunction would reinforce the power of the Skeksis' rule for another thousand years; whether or not there was a Great Conjunction at the time the crystal was shattered isn't made clear.

3) At the end of the Dark Crystal, the UrSkeks leave the castle, but whether or not they remain on the planet remains to be known. As nothing is truly revealed about their race, we simply don't know where they are at the conclusion of the first film.

4) Violence is not a part of Gelfling nature--it would take something unnatural and extreme to cause Gelfling to fight Gelfling. Fighting for their lives against the Garthim and Skeksis is understandable, but not a conflict against their own race.

Speculations from my end: it would be plausible that when the U-mun representative arrives at the castle, the UrSkeks return to intervene, perhaps attempting to prevent the very outcome that occurs despite their best efforts. Or, equally plausible, perhaps they have become tied to the essence of the crystal and resonate with its state of being, so that when it is once again shattered, they also "shatter." With some creative storytelling, the UrSkeks involvement could be presented as an integral part of the new film. I look forward to seeing how the screenwriters will craft this part of the tale, especially in that it will reveal more details about the mysterious UrSkek race.

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